+1 with a bullet: Google lets the people vote up search results

Google has made an experimental feature called +1 available to users, so …

Google is adding a service that allows users to vote on search results to flag them as good content, the company announced on its official blog today. The service, named +1, is similar in functionality to dedicated content aggregation sites like Reddit, and all votes are tied to your Google account.

+1 is a feature that users can now enable through Google Labs' experimental search options. Once on, +1 adds a little button next to every search result that allows searchers to flag content they find "pretty cool" or "useful." When one of your contacts has given their +1 seal of approval to a search result, it shows up in your search results with a line of text saying your friend "+1'd this."

Google is a little late to the upvote party, but unlike services such as Digg or Reddit, the timeliness of the mob's approval doesn't seem to be a factor. Content that has won someone's approval will game your results until the distribution of +1s shifts.

Given the size of the Internet, limiting the crowd that is able to sort through it for you to your circle of friends doesn't seem like the best solution. In the same vein, the assumption that Google users only have contacts whose opinion they respect may be a little off-base. The service could prove useful if you have a cadre of impeccably tasteful friends, but we hope this isn't meant to be the magic bullet for Google's increasingly SEO-burdened results.